Top 5 Comedy Gigs of 2014

You laughed, you cried, you heckled: Brian Donaldson breaks down the best acts of the year

(Ben Ashenden and Alex Owen)

The PinAfter a successful 2013 Fringe debut as a twosome, Ben Ashenden and Alex Owen returned with that difficult second show and very nearly re-drew the rules of the sketch game. Their hour featured routines which played with the form while managing to keep the laugh-count unfeasibly high.

Bridget ChristieIt’s never an easy task to follow up a critically adored and award-winning show, but Christie was well up to the task as she sequeled A Bic for Her with the equally hilarious and powerful An Ungrateful Woman.

The RutlesA proper nostalgia trip for anyone who remembers Neil Innes and co’s spoofing of the Fab Four. At the ABC in June, we were shown the All You Need is Cash mockumentary before a blistering live set with one parodic hit after another.

Joke ThievesArguably the best new themed-show idea on the block right now with comedians performing their own material and then doing the routine of a comic with whom they’ve been paired on the night. At The Stand in February, this caused some real tension between the acts and proved just how visceral a proper stand-up show can be.

Liam WilliamsTo some, the Sheeps guy was a surefire winner of the Edinburgh Comedy Award. Except he wasn’t. But he still put on a blindingly thought-provoking show in a tiny pub cellar about hypocrisy, capitalism and graffiti artists, even offering up an alternative World Cup anthem.

Tue 2 Apr

Winner of the 2013 Foster's Comedy Award with her show A Bic For Her (based on the ever-so-misogynistic pen for ladies released by Bic that year), Bridget's latest show is more of the same deliciously scathing explorations of the world.
Bridget came to the nation's attention throughout the mid-late 00s, after being…